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Penguins outlast Niagara in OT
By Brian Dzenis
YOUNGSTOWN
For a game that featured seven players in double figures, the guy with seven points on the night made the biggest difference when it counted.
Sophomore Devin Haygood had the critical points and rebounds in overtime as Youngstown State outlasted Niagara, 101-97. The win evens the Penguins’ record at 6-6.
Haygood found himself with the crunch-time minutes because starting center Jorden Kaufman had fouled out. Haygood scored five of his seven points in the extra period, including the key put-back bucket with a minute left to push the Penguins lead to 99-96. Rahim Williams and Haygood each made a free throw to close out the game.
“I had a really rough start to the game, so I just wanted to come in at overtime and when Big J went out, I just wanted to get some rebounds,” Haygood said. “I ended up getting the big one.”
YSU coach Jerry Slocum was equally impressed with Haygood’s defensive efforts as well as his scoring.
“I’m not sure for a guy that’s 6-8 that there’s a better guy that can defend in our league — not necessarily in the post — but on ball screens,” Slocum said. “He can switch up and we can do some different things defensively.”
Niagara got just one point on its final eight possessions in overtime. Stretches like that were rare Wednesday night.
The Purple Eagles (3-8) earlier proved they could match the Penguins shot-for-shot.
The sides played a back-and-forth contest in which each shot close to 55 percent in the first half.
Slocum liked his chances in a shootout.
“We’re not built to hold people in the 60s, that’s not who we are,” Slocum said. “Obviously, we don’t want to give up in the 90s, but this is a team that’s built to get us to the 80s and that was evident when we’ve played well.”
Both teams saw their shooting percentages dip in the second half, but Niagara got the worse end of it, dropping by 12 percentage points.
“We were stopping their transition points, early on they were getting these easy buckets,” YSU guard Cameron Morse said. “So now we realized it and made a halftime adjustment. We said we have to get back and make them score over us and that’s what we did.”
While still dealing with a wrist injury, Morse led the team in scoring with 27 points. Francisco Santiago and Matt Donlan put up 18 and 15 points, respectively. Before fouling out, Kaufman had a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The extent of Morse’s injury was apparent in overtime when he fell hard as he was fouled while making a bucket with two minutes left. He winced as he air-balled the foul shot.
“My wrist is bothering me, but my team needs me. I’m not going to just sit out,” Morse said. “I fell right on it, but I got up and said I would shoot the free throw. After the free throw, I still wanted to stay in the game.”
Guard Shane Gatling led Niagara with 24 points. Backcourt mate Kahill Dukes was an assist shy of a double-double with 20 points and nine assists. Matt Scott added 16 points.